KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) Collin McHugh and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals at their own game on Thursday, relying on sharp pitching and stingy defense for a 5-2 victory in the opener of their American League Division Series.
McHugh (1-0) allowed four hits, including a pair of solo homers by Kendrys Morales, while pitching around a 49-minute rain delay. The right-hander lasted six innings before turning the game over to his bullpen, which scattered three runners over the final three frames.
Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Oliver Perez got the game to Luke Gregerson, who handled the ninth to earn a save.
George Springer and Colby Rasmus went deep for the homer-happy Astros, but they also scored via the same sort of small ball the Royals used in reaching the World Series last season.
Game 2 is Friday, with lefty Scott Kazmir on the mound for Houston against right-hander Johnny Cueto in a matchup of pitchers traded during the MLB season.
Yordano Ventura (0-1) yielded three runs on four hits and a walk in two innings for Kansas City, but did not come back following the rain delay. Chris Young served up Springer’s home run with one out in the fifth, but tossed four otherwise solid innings of relief.
The Astros, who struggled so mightily on the road this season, have apparently solved their woes just in time. They beat the Yankees 3-0 in New York in Tuesday’s wild-card game, then took care of a Royals club built specifically for spacious Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
”That’s a young, athletic team and they played really, really good defense,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.
The Astros wasted no time getting Ventura in trouble, loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning. The hard-throwing ace settled down to retire the next three batters, but Rasmus and Evan Gattis provided RBI groundouts to give Houston a 2-0 lead.
Jose Altuve tacked on another run in the second with a single to right.
The Royals answered in the bottom half, just as rain started to fall, when Morales ripped McHugh’s 89 mph fastball down the right-field line. After the rain delay, Morales got the better of McHugh again in the fourth, driving a pitch over the wall in right.
Morales became the first Royals player with two homers in a postseason game since George Brett against Toronto in the 1985 AL Championship Series.
Unfortunately for the Royals, Morales was the only hitter who could solve McHugh. That left the club facing a crucial Game 2 on Friday, when another defeat would leave it on the brink of elimination.
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